COLLEGES: Bridgewater's Adam Chase earns All-NE-10 honors

Thursday

May 18, 2017 at 5:49 PMMay 18, 2017 at 5:52 PM

Jim Fenton The Enterprise @JFenton_ent

He appeared in only 17 games and had just 15 at-bats as a freshman and sophomore on the Franklin Pierce University baseball team.Adam Chase got his chance to contribute to the Ravens on a full-time basis this spring, and the Bridgewater resident made the most of the opportunity.

The junior right fielder earned a spot on the All-Northeast-10 Conference second team after ranking among the leading hitters with a .338 batting average.

Chase had 54 hits in 42 games, including 10 doubles, a triple and two home runs while driving in 22 runs from the second spot in the batting order.

After waiting on the bench for two years, Chase was ready when his time came.

“The biggest thing with him is he’s a great kid and his work ethic is as good as anybody’s,’’ said Franklin Pierce coach Mike Chambers, whose team went 33-15 and lost in the title game of the NE-10 tournament to New Haven. “That’s kept him here. That’s kept him basically in the program. Some of the kids that come and they don’t play, they just leave and they want to play right this second.

“For a lot of these kids, they need that time to develop. In the meantime, Adam was always a great teammate. He was always working hard. We always wanted him around, always wanted him with us. To see him make that jump and turn into a great player, I’m proud of him.

“He stuck with it and developed and turned himself into this type of player.’’

Chase was a backup at the beginning of this season and moved into the lineup after an injury to an outfielder.

Starting with a March 11 doubleheader, Chase had multiple hits in seven out of his first eight games as a starter.

He was held hitless only eight times in 42 games and had four three-hit games while going 4 for 6 with four RBI against Bentley University.

“I’ll be 100 percent honest with you, I’m not sure anyone expected those kind of numbers,’’ said Chambers. “He always had some things that could make him a good baseball player, but he had trouble just putting it together. He made adjustments and kept sticking with it.

“He had a great fall and he knew that he was starting to turn himself around and we felt good about what was happening with him. But to have all-conference type numbers, that was quite an outstanding year.

“He played some games early, got some big hits and kept going. He got hot and stayed in there. It kept us going early when the offense was struggling a little.’’

The Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High graduate does a little bit of everything at the plate.

“He’s got some power,’’ said Chambers. “He hits a lot of line drives. He’s got a little bit of speed. He’s really an all-around hitter, which is why he bats second. He doesn’t strike out a lot.

“You got the feeling last fall in scrimmages that he was turning the corner a little bit. Some of those tools he has became real usable.’’

Sousa earns honor: Zach Sousa of Middleboro, a senior at Wentworth Institute of Technology, made the All-Commonwealth Coast Conference second team in golf.

Sousa played 10 rounds and had an average of 81.9 with a best score of 74 against Eastern Nazarene College.

Stonehill trio selected: Representing Stonehill College on the All-NE-10 baseball team are Ben Monte (second team after hitting .322 with six homers), Steve Lee (third team after getting four homers and 22 RBI) and Daniel Paul (all-rookie team after going 3-0 with a 2.51 ERA).

Jim Fenton’s Colleges appears Wednesday and Friday in The Enterprise. He may be reached at jfenton@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFenton_ent.

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